With dozens of race cars pushing 200 mph for hundreds of miles at a stretch, NASCAR and "green" may not seem like the most natural of partners.

But this weekend, when the country's largest sanctioning body for stock car racing rolls into Fontana's Auto Club Speedway, it will do so as one of the world's most environmentally conscious sports organizations.

Many of the 100,000 fans expected to attend this weekend's race will pass trees NASCAR planted to offset the 22,000 miles' of emissions generated by the 43 cars speeding around the oval track. The five sets of waste tires cast off by each race team will be recycled by Goodyear, as will the cars' 700 quarts of motor oil and, increasingly, the race cars themselves.

It's all part of NASCAR Green -- an elaborate program designed to reduce the annual environmental impact of running 1,500 races at more than 100 tracks in 39 U.S. states and Canada.

"The goal is to take the sport strategically in a green direction, and to do that in a very smart, systematic way," said Mike Lynch, managing director of green innovation at NASCAR, in Daytona Beach, Fla.

Launched as what Lynch terms a "visibility and demonstration platform to show the benefits of going green to save money," NASCAR Green is entering its sixth season of a continuously evolving program with an ambitious mandate. Not only does NASCAR seek to reduce its own waste and emissions, it is working to change the green attitudes and behaviors of a fan base that includes one in four Americans.

For the first time this year, United Parcel Service will handle the 1,000 packages it receives and delivers to and from the track in a single race weekend using a truck that is solar-, rather than diesel-, powered. Heeding a call from NASCAR to reduce the emissions generated by race teams' idling trucks, most teams will follow the organization's no-idling recommendation, further reducing emissions.

Already, NASCAR runs the largest tree-planting program in sports. It plants ten trees for every green flag dropped during a race weekend -- roughly one tree per car. One mature tree absorbs about one metric ton of carbon dioxide over its lifetime, which is the same amount of carbon dioxide emitted by a Sprint Cup car driving 500 miles, Lynch said.

In an effort to reduce solid waste, NASCAR has partnered with Sprint to run an on-site cell-phone recycling service; the cell phone service provider also hands out postage prepaid envelopes to attendees who didn't think to bring their old phones.

NASCAR will recycle even more electronics in partnership with Creative Recycling Systems. The Tampa, Fla. company will set up trackside recycling centers to take the computers and other devices contributing to the country's fastest-growing waste stream.

Even the trash thrown away by NASCAR fans is sorted afterward to pluck out valuable recyclables.

On the track, NASCAR's green message comes with a fair bit of flag waving -- literally. The green flags used during the race advertise "American Ethanol," an advocacy group that represents American corn farmers and ethanol production plants. In 2011, NASCAR adopted Sunoco Green E15 as its official fuel. NASCAR will reach its 4 millionth competition mile on the higher-horsepower, 15% ethanol blend this season. (Most retail gasoline stations use a 10% ethanol blend.)

Just as NASCAR was interested in ethanol because it's produced in the U.S., its provider was looking "for a platform to be able to introduce a higher-ethanol fuel blend of 15%," said Tom Buis, chief executive of Growth Energy, which heads the American Ethanol partnership.

That plan seems to be paying off. NASCAR research shows fans are not only more likely than non-fans to support ethanol's use in racing but in their own personal cars.

Putting its green message in front of its 67 million U.S. fans seems to be paying off. When NASCAR Green first launched in 2009, NASCAR fans were equal to non-fans in their green views, according to Lynch. In a 2012 survey, NASCAR fans are now more likely than non-fans to view their household as "very green" and "always looking for ways to positive impact the environment" – a 30 percent increase from 2011.

And when the race cars are parked and the fans go home? NASCAR continues its green mission, cleaning up the paddock with biodegradable soaps to degrease garage floors for the first time this year with a new partner, Green Earth Technologies. Even the 1,000 pounds of greasy shop rags generated throughout the racing series are recycled.

Safety-Kleen, which recycles 200,000 gallons of used motor oil during the NASCAR racing season, also picks up the rags, which it sells to companies that use the waste to generate electricity.

"Motor oil is one of God's best creations in that it only gets dirty. It doesn't go anywhere. So you just collect it and capture it and then recycle it," said Drew Patey, director of motorsports for Safety-Kleen, which sells the oil it recycles to rental car companies and trucking fleets.

Since working with NASCAR, Patey said, other racing organizations have followed suit with Safety-Kleen's on-site motor oil recycling, including Supercross, IndyCar and Monster Jam.

Extensive as it already is, NASCAR Green will continue to press petal to metal with its green mission. Next month at NASCAR's event at the Kansas Speedway, the pace car will be a Toyota Camry Hybrid.

Safety-Kleen recycles 200,000 gallons of used motor oil during the NASCAR racing season as part of the NASCAR Green program. The recycled oil is sold to rental car companies and trucking fleets. NASCAR
Safety-Kleen recycles 200,000 gallons of used motor oil during the NASCAR racing season as part of the NASCAR Green program. Some of the recycled oil is processed in Santa Ana. It's later sold to rental car companies and trucking fleets. GETTY IMAGES
The pit crew services NASCAR driver Kyle Busch's #18 M&M's Toyota at Las Vegas Motor Speedway in March. The car is fueled with Sunoco Green E15 fuel made with 15% ethanol. The five sets of tires each team is allowed per race are recycled by Goodyear. GETTY IMAGES
The United Parcel Service operates a solar-powered truck as part of the NASCAR Green program. All cardboard is recycled. Packages are delivered trackside with an electric vehicle. NASCAR
NASCAR has been using Sunoco Green E15 to fuel its race cars since 2011. The fuel is made with 15% ethanol processed from corn grown in the United States. HAROLD HIINSON PHOTOGRAPHY

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